Gawyn Trakand
| nationality=Andoran | rank=First Prince of the Sword | occupation=Warder | title=Gaidin | affiliation= White Tower | hair=Red Gold | eyes=Blue | gender=Male | height=6'5" | status=Alive | mentioned= | appeared= | lastappeared= | living=tom }} Lord Gawyn of House Trakand is a young man, son of Taringail Damodred and Queen Morgase, as well as the brother of Elayne and half-brother to Galad Damodred. As the eldest son of an Andoran queen, ideally his future role in the government is to be the First Prince of the Sword to his sister Elayne when she ascends the Lion Throne. As a male child of the queen he is ineligible to claim the throne himself, although a claim might be passed on to any female descendants. Appearance He is a head taller than Elayne. He has the same red-gold hair as his mother and sister. He also shares Elayne's oval face. History When he was very young, Gareth Bryne took him to Elayne's crib and made him swear an oath to always protect her. Even though he was only a child, Gawyn understood the oath perfectly and took it to heart. Growing up, Gawyn barely knew his father, who spent all his time grooming Galad as his heir. Galad would save Gawyn's life twice over their youth, and Gawyn thought of him as a role model. Rand al'Thor meets Gawyn in when he falls into the Palace garden. He vouches for Rand both when Galad threatens him and when he's brought before Morgase. .]] Activities Training as a Warder Gawyn's subsequent appearance in the story occurs when Elayne heads to the White Tower for her Aes Sedai training, Gawyn and Galad accompanying her to train with the Tower Warders. Morgase comes to the White Tower and when she finds that her daughter is missing, she becomes furious. Galad and Gawyn manage to talk their way out of being taken out of the White Tower by her. Galad and himself both fight Matrim Cauthon who is armed with a quarterstaff and beats the two of them together. During his time there, Gawyn meets Egwene, Min, and Nynaeve. During the Tower Coup, he supports Elaida by preventing the attempted rescue of Siuan Sanche, the deposed Amyrlin Seat. He becomes the head of a group of former Warder trainees known as "The Younglings". The Tower Schism and Dumai's Wells Gawyn eventually surpasses Galad in his skill with the blade. He first proves himself a blademaster by killing two Warders during the coup, Coulin and Hammar, both of whom are master swordsmen. Gawyn is sent with the Younglings to protect the group of Aes Sedai that make an alliance with the Shaido. It is during this meeting that he finds out about Andor being taken by Rand, and that Rand had probably killed Morgase. Gawyn shows up again in Cairhien where he meets with Egwene regularly and they confess their love for one another. After Egwene has to leave to become the Amyrlin Seat of the Rebel Aes Sedai, he leaves to assist the Aes Sedai he is traveling with at the Battle of Dumai's Wells, which he loses, but survives. He also extremely dislikes Rand, as proven at one point when Egwene was pulled into one of his dreams, in which he killed Rand to rescue Egwene. At Dumai's Wells he even tells Rand, "I will see you dead, al'Thor". He believes that Rand killed his mother when he took Caemlyn, but because Egwene supports Rand, he will not raise a hand against him. As of Knife of Dreams Gawyn and the Younglings are encamped outside the walls of Tar Valon, not allowed in by order of Elaida and incapable of leaving due to winter snows and the rebel army. Choosing Sides Gawyn's Younglings begin effectively raiding the Rebel army using Gawyn's knowledge of Gareth Bryne's strategies. Despite that, Gawyn is conflicted about having sided with Elaida; he is convinced that she intended for him to die at Dumai's Wells. He dislikes having to send his army against that of his former teacher, and doesn't know what to do about Egwene. After sparring with Sleete and Marlesh, he learns that Egwene has been captured by the White Tower. Convinced that Elaida is going to execute her, he decides to leave the Younglings and join the Rebels to save her. He meets Gareth Bryne and Siuan Sanche at the rebel camp, and they convince him not to go off rescuing her, as she's given them strict orders not to. He also talks with Gareth about his mother and her time under the sway of Gaebril, and about Rand. He then guides Bryne to Shemerin, whom he found hiding with the washing women. When the Seanchan raid the White Tower, Gawyn convinces Siuan and Bryne that Egwene is in danger, and that they must rescue her. They take a small force of soldiers into the city and fight the Seanchan at the base of the Tower. They go on to fight their way through the Tower to find a near-unconscious Egwene, and they bring her back to the Rebel camp (against her wishes, but she is too weak to resist.) Gawyn follows Egwene as she prepares to give the order to attack the White Tower. He then greets Egwene as she is about to be raised as the Amyrlin Seat although she is still not too thrilled with him over her "rescue". Protecting the Amyrlin Following Egwene's rise as the reunited Tower's Amyrlin Seat, Gawyn stays as close as he can to Egwene, although she refuses to acknowledge him for quite some time. He escorts her to the meeting in the Hall of the Tower with Rand. He then begins to investigate the mysterious deaths of a number of Aes Sedai in the White Tower with Sleete. Later Egwene and Gawyn have an argument, with Gawyn feeling unneeded and unwanted and Egwene becoming frustrated with Gawyn's refusal to disobey orders. After Gawyn disrupts a trap set for an assassin in the White Tower, Gawyn leaves the Tower, briefly, to visit his sister in Caemlyn. In Caemlyn, Gawyn learns that the assassin in the tower is in fact a Seanchan Bloodknife from a former sul'dam. Later on, Gawyn is informed that Elayne is attempting to enter Tel'aran'riod and knows that Egwene, without a doubt, is there too, making her vulnerable to another assassination attempt. He returns to Tar Valon just in time to rescue the slumbering Egwene from three Bloodknives, nearly dying in the process. After Egwene awakens, she finally bonds Gawyn as her warder and agrees to marry him. After Egwene moves Tar Valon's forces to the Field of Merrilor, Gawyn is reunited with his thought-dead mother, Morgase. Blademaster Gawyn seems almost unbeatable with the sword, despite his young age. He beat other legendary blademasters, such as Hammar, and most importantly - when fighting Sleete he never lost to him, something even Lan could not do. Although he and Galad lost to Mat Cauthon once at the same time, this was still during Gawyn's warder training. His amazing feats in some of his fights has, according to the author, relied a lot more on luck than Gawyn might realize. Viewings *When Min Farshaw returned to the White Tower, she sees blood caked over his face indicating serious wounding. (believed fulfilled during the Tower split) *She then sees a Warder sword over him with a heron marked blade, indicating he would become a blademaster. (fulfilled during the Tower split, by killing the bladmaster Hammar in single combat) *There is also Gawyn's banner the charging White Boar but on a field of Green rather than the Red of Andor. (This may represent his devotion to Egwene al'Vere, who believes herself to be Green Ajah. It may also be his involvement with the Younglings, who wear green coats.) *During the escape of Min, Siuan and Leane from the Tower, Min saw two flickering images, one of him kneeling before Egwene, and another of him breaking Egwene's neck. This would indicate that either was a possibility and hints at his torn loyalties in the future. Parallels Gawyn is a parallel of Gawain, one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Gawain was the son of Morgause and had great loyalty to his king and family. These are references to Gawyn's mother, Morgase, and his tendency to place his own family first above all other causes. Background According to Robert Jordan, the fighting abilities amongst the greatest sword fighters rank as follows: Lan, Rand, Galad, Gawyn. Category: Lords Category:Blademasters Category:Younglings